Get to know the Crew…. Niko Snow!

Infinite Game Publishing continues their series of posts introducing us to the IGP staff working on MechWarrior Tactics.   Today’s post, gives some insight into our Community Manager Niko Snow!

Like GMZero, Niko also first joined the gaming industry on the QA side of the house:

4. How long have you worked in the gaming industry?

I joined the industry as a third-party QA Tester in 2008, quickly specializing in pre-certification testing on all major consoles. I then joined a QA team working on social and mobile games in 2010 before switching to Community Management: Since I tested the games, I was well equipped to discuss them. Eventually, my desire for bigger and better projects, along with my intimate knowledge of BattleTech, helped me join the ranks of IGP in 2012.

We also now know who is responsible for the maintenance of Brewing Betty:

brewing_betty2

7. What’s your go-to specialty (workwise or hobby)?

Wordsmith, Loremaster, Coffee Machine Technician, Professor of Virtual Anthropology.

That makes Niko the most important person at IGP, since everyone knows that Game Development (and Community Management) is 100% caffeine powered!

Niko, like the rest of us… works his geekdom into everyday conversation apparently:

6. Give an example of how you have been inspired by a particular movie, book, TV show, etc.

When I’m stressed, I recite the Litany Against Fear and use fake science-fiction expletives like “Frell” and “Frak”

Now, he just needs to add ‘Shtako’ to the list, and he can blend in as an extra when Defiance shoots up in Canada!

 

Niko was instrumental in helping me get permission to stream MechWarrior Tactics as part of my Extra-Life campaign, so I won’t hold the fact that he’s an Android fan against him:

5. What type of cell phone do you use (are you an Android or Apple fan)?

I currently use a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 running on Jelly Bean.  My favorite phone ever would have been the Blackberry Bold 9780 or the Nokia 3395.  I’ve worked on all major mobile platforms, so I see the benefits of each, but my personal favorite at the moment is Android.

What is a new tidbit of information for me, is that Niko used to be an English teacher!

9. How does collaborating with offices in other countries affect your development process?

My experience as an English teacher also helps with avoiding language barriers and I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dev and Test teams based in Argentina and Ukraine before. It’s not too different otherwise from working with another team in another office building.

 

This was another fun little peek into the team over at IGP.  Niko has been fun to interact with since the MechWarrior Tactics community first started… so it’s nice to learn a little bit more about him.